Italy under Conor O'Shea.

[Oldschool]

What will COS bring to the table.

[neiliog93]

Well after watching the Wales and to a lesser extent Ireland game, he'll do well to even make them look like they care. Italy have often rightly been lauded for 'spirited' displays in the face of hammerings, but as professionals they were a disgrace today.

[simonokeeffe]

What will COS bring to the table.

a forlorn sense of hope

[Ruckedtobits]

Given he has not yet publicly committed himself, Munster DOR would be a much better challenge except for the the commute between Cork and Limerick. Imagine what the Kerry electoral machine would do to fill Thomond with a Kerryman of pedigree in charge!

[Peg Leg]

What will COS bring to the table.

Bad shirt and tie combos.

[neiliog93]

Given he has not yet publicly committed himself, Munster DOR would be a much better challenge except for the the commute between Cork and Limerick. Imagine what the Kerry electoral machine would do to fill Thomond with a Kerryman of pedigree in charge!

He is Italy's next coach. The RTÉ panel and pitchside analysts have repeatedly said it in his presence and he hasn't corrected them. Widespread media reports that he contacted Parisse (who was going to retire) and has convinced him to hold off until the next RWC, but that Parisse won't go on the June tours.

[simonokeeffe]

Given he has not yet publicly committed himself, Munster DOR would be a much better challenge except for the the commute between Cork and Limerick. Imagine what the Kerry electoral machine would do to fill Thomond with a Kerryman of pedigree in charge!

He needs to do some Kidney esque backpeddling on it

[enby]

he must be mad getting involved with that shower, no coach has emerged from that job with an enhanced reputation. Nice food and vino though

[Dave Cahill]

...and an almost unlimted budget - the FIR are said to be the richest union in Europe

[ChrisUppy]

The good thing about how poorly they're going is that expectation will now be very very low from him.

There's a few good young backs there that he could build the team around. His main problem will be sorting out that pack (and mainly front 5). If he was able to appoint a good forwards coach I feel he could implement a decent gameplan. Follow the Japan model

[nc6000]

This is now confirmed. O'Shea takes over in June for 4 years.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/i ... -1.2586880

[simonokeeffe]

as far as poisoned managerial jobs go its somewhere in between English national football team and Luas pay negotiator

[Ruckedtobits]

The sub-paragraphs are at least as interesting as the headline.

Steven Aboud moving from IRFU to Elite Youth Development in FIR and Mike Catt joining as backs Coach to CO'S are statements of intent, as is the 4 year contract.

Really interested to see how he goes about this role and whether FIR put the money out to Zebre and Treviso to collect wandering Italians, including those in French leagues and 2nd generation guys in Argentina.

Good luck.

[neill_m]

They can only improve. Had their chance of a victory in the 1st game v France, tailed off v poorly in the last 2 games especially. Need to get their act together, especially with so much talk of them being replaced by Georgia/promotion relegation play-offs for the 6Ns.

[Peg Leg]

as far as poisoned managerial jobs go its somewhere in between English national football team and Luas pay negotiator

If the luas negotiator is being paid by the hour, I'd say he's pretty happy.

[nc6000]

Looks like quite a challenge for him. Zebre and Treviso conceded 103 points between them tonight whilst managing to score just 8, all of which came from Treviso.

They now both have a combined points difference in the Pro12 of -492. Italy's points difference in the Six Nations was -145.

Only was is up.

[enby]

imagine being a Treviso fan watching your team worsen every season and getting slaughtered in practically every match. It must be a dreadful miserable experience

[Flash Gordon]

he must be mad getting involved with that shower, no coach has emerged from that job with an enhanced reputation. Nice food and vino though

My understanding is that O'Shea was mentally done as a day to day coach of a club. The thought was that he wasn't able to handle the day to day pressure and intensity and Quins have been planning for his departure for some time (they were surprised they got this year out of him).

The Italy job isn't day to day, it keeps him in the game and pays the rent without him keeling over with a heart attack. The reality of top level sports coaching is that you need a massive amount of resilience both physically and mentally and there aren't that many people can hack it. Sometimes we forget that.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

That's understandable but why on earth does he commit to so much media work then? He's over here with RTE, has a column in one of the papers, and always seems to be available for interviews about Quins players who are in the news for whatever reason.

He carries that stress well anyway, I'd never have guessed that he was under the pump.

[Peg Leg]

That's understandable but why on earth does he commit to so much media work then? He's over here with RTE, has a column in one of the papers, and always seems to be available for interviews about Quins players who are in the news for whatever reason.

He carries that stress well anyway, I'd never have guessed that he was under the pump.

Because he'd rather work in the media?